5.2 job seekers for every Lincoln job

There are 5.2 Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants in Lincoln for every city vacancy advertised by Jobcentre Plus.

A total of 2,978 people in Lincoln were claiming JSA, with just 568 vacancies advertised in the area, as of the latest figures from May 2011.

People claiming JSA in Lincoln has actually fallen on last year by 263, from 3,421.

Figures on the rate of JSA claimants versus Job Centre vacancies were released by the Office of National statistics, after a parliamentary question from Labour MP Chris Ruane.

However, the figures must be treated with a degree of caution. The document containing the data says: “Jobcentre Plus vacancies are available from the NOMIS website. They relate to ‘live unfilled vacancies’, which are vacancies notified to Jobcentre Plus and currently thought to be unfilled.

“A large number of vacancies are not notified to Jobcentre Plus, and the rate of notification can depend on location, occupation and industry. Data for Lincoln is affected by armed forces recruitment.”

There are currently 1.49 million people over 18 claiming JSA in the UK.